PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry has been conducting a national survey of adult oral health to obtain data on dental health as well as dental disease among Malaysians since last month.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) said the National Health and Morbidity Survey: National Oral Health Survey for Adults 2020 (NHMS 2020: NOHSA 2020) will run until September.
He said a total of 23,000 respondents aged 15 and above have been selected for the survey.
“The decennial survey aims to collect data on dental health which will involve interviews by 65 inspection teams to 11,300 houses nationwide.
“A total of 65 inspection teams were formed specifically for this survey for data collection activities involving interviews and oral examinations that included examination of teeth, gums and oral lesions,” he said in a statement on Thursday (July 28).
NOHSA 2020 that was supposed to be carried out two years ago was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The last survey that was held in 2010 had shown that 88.9% of Malaysians had dental caries while 94% suffered from gum diseases.
Dr Noor Hisham said following the survey, the Health Ministry had introduced the National Dental Health Plan 2011-2020 that outlined initiatives and prevention programmes to tackle the problems.
“The results of this survey are awaited by various interested parties after more than 10 years of the same study being conducted.
“It will be used to evaluate the effectiveness and impact on dental health initiatives and programmes that have been implemented throughout the country,” he said.
Dr Noor Hisham added that the results of the survey would also be used as the baseline data for the National Oral Health Strategic Plan (2022-2030).
